Driving Vision

It's funny how the power of visualization can almost instantly draw an opportunity. I have recently been looking for a new job. I was working as a Communications Officer for a not for profit organization. My being the last recruit and the economy being what it is, I was out of work at a really awkward time of year: May. It's too late to meet the hiring craze of early spring for contracts beginning in the summer and it's obviously too early for the hiring wave of the fall, when students return to class. What's a girl to do?!?

That said, I've been living in a state of latent panic. Although I am a highly emotional and expressive person, my career choices are 95% based on logic, careful analysis and planning (FYI: The other 5% is hazardous: impressions and luck). Of course, I had my initial breakdown of tears and existential crisis ("Why now? Why me? What's the point of all this?"). The very next day, I put together a plan. I was to divide and conquer, no less. Might I mention that my plan has since been evolving rather positively, even if not entirely to my satisfaction (i.e. remarkably quickly).

I'll spare you the details, but essentially, I am to look for a full-time job in my field of communications. If that is to fail, my plan B (which seems to be the one currently in motion), is to opt for part-time employment at a lovely communications firm I know very well and to pave the financial gap with freelance writing. I would be working either a few days a week or every morning with my afternoons off and spare time to enjoy the sunshine, write and - this is the innovative part - build a photography portfolio!!! The idea came to me like a flash one afternoon. "Why not make use of this inevitable "free-time" to perfect the skills and knowledge I have already acquired? The whole point of my taking workshops this year was to broaden my horizons, both professionally and artistically. I guess one can say, "Be careful what you wish for".

And so, I have been contemplating how I could possibly get myself more involved in photography, mostly on a volunteer basis, in order to put together an interesting portfolio. Flowers are great, and I find shooting them very relaxing, but they just won't cut it. That day, on facebook, a dance acquaintance of mine posted a very clear call: "Looking for photographers". I took it as a sign. The friend in question is a musician and is currently creating a personal website to promote his performing and his teaching.

We met yesterday to discuss what he was looking for in terms of style and deadlines. Relaxed and open minded, the artist is giving me the creative freedom I seek to explore my capabilities. The wheels, they turn...

When I got home, I immediately started thinking of ways to make the shoots happen and to really convey what this guitarist was all about. In an enthusiastic message, I explained how I viewed the project. I realized then that there's more to photography than theory and mastering the intricacies of your camera. More importantly, you need vision.

It is the only way to tackle a project intelligently and it is the only way to tell a story, which is what photography does, in a snapshot, so to speak.

You need to get familiar with your subject and the project at large. You need to organize a shoot logistically speaking. You must direct the shoot (and in my case, hope to hell I know what I am doing!) and lastly, treat the photos. I'm perfectly comfortable with steps 1 and 2, and relatively comfortable with steps 3 and 4. In any case, I've promised my "client" I would do everything I possibly knew how to do to produce good photographs for him to use.

When there's a will, there are many ways!

For all the doubting and the fear that this situation has caused, I am grateful to have found myself obligated to rethink my life. Often, we forget that we are free to choose, at any point, the direction we're taking. Maybe my path is winding, but it doesn't lack narrative twists my mother calls "life's surprises". And that's just what they are: reminders that I'm alive for the living!